Filmmaker Abhishek Sharma is all set to debut as a director with his untitled feature film, which is based on a murder mystery. In the past, he has been associated with many big directors like Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Satish Kaushik. His last produced-written short flick ‘Little Girls Sara’ did wonders online and raked up 25 million views in just a few months. He has worked in the film industry as Assistant Director, Production Manager, Casting Department, Producer, and Writer and wants to be an editor now. He loves cinema and wants to create his niche artistic cinema.
To talk about his Bollywood Journey and his upcoming projects, we lately interviewed Abhishek Sharma.
Here are the excepts from the Interview:
- You have been associated with the Bollywood film Industry for over 10 years now. What was that one thing that let you connected to this industry in all these years?
Ans: I am associated with the Industry for nearly 8-9 years. See, I use to right earlier a lot. I started writing slowly than I start meeting people and then I got into direction with Vishal Bhardwaj first. Then I started assisting Anurag Kashyap and that’s how I started. So the basic journey was writing for me and then I got into direction. So now probably, I am writing and directing both.
2. You have worked as an Assistant Director, Production Manager, Casting Department and even writer in Bollywood films? Which of this part of filmmaking makes you more curious?
Ans: These are all the aspects of filmmaking. So being a good filmmaker, you need to understand all the aspects of Filmmaking. So writing, directing and producing, even small things are very important.
3. In 2015, you have produced and written a short film ‘Little Girls Sara’, which is certainly a brilliant piece of cinema. When the story idea came to your mind and how you executed it?
Ans: I don’t know where it comes from! I was just writing something and then this idea came to my mind. Just suddenly an idea came into my mind like a girl ask the question why the god created black people. I have written few lines about it than I discussed with the director Jayshree. She was very excited. Well, everybody has seen the films based on racism, they all are like one sided negative and one-sided positive and this film is overall positive. It makes black people positive and even white people positive in both manners.
4. Is it so difficult to express the message of a particular film? And you and your team did that so well in just 6 mins with ‘Little Girls Sara’? So are you really satisfied when audience appreciated this artistic short film?
Ans: Absolutely, this film comes from a very positive attitude. Everybody associated with the film, it all came with a positive attitude. A few months back we posted the film and it got few comments and likes. Soon the film picked up by an American people and then it went viral. There is a lot of debate going on about the film. It is going in a big way in the USA and other countries. It already got 25 million views on the page and as many of the websites shared it, so it got nearly 35 million views till now.
5. It’s so difficult to connect the audience with your movie ‘Little Girls Sara’ did that so brilliantly? What do you think that has connected the audience with this masterful piece of art?
Ans: That’s emotions. Emotion is something which drags you everywhere, it’s so deep. So if you see the whole film, it’s all about emotions. How a mother tells a story of a little girl and how she believes in that. She carry’s forward that thing in her whole life. Like your mother tells you something and you believe in that. She goes to other kid and says don’t worry it’s just a paint, that is black. So she believes what her mother said and carries forward in her life
6. Tell us about the kind of journey you had till now in the dream world of cinema?
Ans: Pretty exciting! I have been supported by a lot of filmmakers, Vishal Bharadwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Satish Kaushik is like a family. See, when I narrated this idea to Satish Ji, he liked the idea and he is always encouraging to me since the inception process. So even I narrated this idea to Ashok Sahni, so he said let’s make it.
7. Do you really want to direct a film in the future? And if yes, what would be its story like or if not then why not?
Ans: I am already working on something and that’s a proper feature film. Like if you notice, the idea of Sara was very unique as nobody has thought it before. So like that, something that has to be noble, that kind of idea I will bring out and make a film.
8. Could you please elaborate more about this feature film?
Ans: See, it’s an interesting film. It’s a murder mystery. I can’t disclose the film but nobody has explored this I think and it’s a completely unique film.
9. What kind of cinema you prefer to watch and why?
Ans: I believe in storytelling and it’s the most important factor of a filmmaking. Like how you tell the story that nobody’s copyright. People wants to just know you. Storytelling and writing are very crucial.
10. Which process of filmmaking you love the most apart from your own and wish to learn that soon?
Ans: Editing. It helps you a lot. Like filmmaking, you need to understand every aspect of filmmaking. If you are a good editor, you understand the acting process and if you are a writer you understand the whole emotion process. I think everything is connected with each other. In Little Girls Sara short movie, the director Jayshree Das and I worked together in many important things related to this film.
